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Review
. 2025 Mar-Apr;42(2):754-761.
doi: 10.1111/phn.13517. Epub 2024 Dec 31.

Childhood and Adolescent Overweight/Obesity Prevalence Trends in Jiangsu, China, 2017-2021: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

Jinxia Yu  1 , Sunan Chen  1 , Jie Yang  2 , Xiyan Zhang  2 , Hui Xue  1 , Xiaoyan Ni  1 , Wei Du  3 , Lijun Fan  1 , Fengyun Zhang  4 , Yan Wang  2
Affiliations
Review

Childhood and Adolescent Overweight/Obesity Prevalence Trends in Jiangsu, China, 2017-2021: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

Jinxia Yu et al. Public Health Nurs. 2025 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate temporal trends in childhood and adolescent overweight/obesity in Jiangsu Province, China, evaluating the effects of age, period, and birth cohort.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Sample: Participants were 210,168 students aged 6-17 years from the five waves of the consecutive cross-sectional Jiangsu provincial surveillance project in 2017-2021.

Measurements: Overweight/obesity was assessed according to the sex- and age-specific body mass index. We used age-period-cohort (APC) analysis to explore the temporal trends of overweight/obesity and to estimate the effects of age, period, and birth cohort on the prevalence.

Results: The overall prevalence of overweight/obesity has increased from 32.08% to 38.60% between 2017 and 2021. The 6-9-year-old group and the 10-13-year-old group were significantly associated with a higher risk of overweight/obesity, in contrast to 14-17-year-olds. The pandemic was also significantly associated with a much higher risk. The cohort 2000-2003 was associated with higher risk, and such association continued until the cohort 2012-2015, denoting a significantly lower risk.

Conclusions: Despite an increasing trend in the prevalence of overweight/obesity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest cohort effect was significantly associated with a lower risk. We recommend continuous efforts on preventive interventions and more research about prevalence trends.

Keywords: age‐period‐cohort; children and adolescents; overweight/obesity; prevalence; trends.

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